Brian Howard

Southampton

Howard started his career as a trainee with Eastleigh until moving to Premier League club Southampton in July 1999. However, his progress at the club suffered a setback when he suffered injuries on two separate occasions in the 1999–00 season. Despite this, Howard was seventeen years old when he signed his first professional contract with Southampton. In April 2001, Howard spent two months at Australian semi-professional soccer club Joondalup United alongside Gary McManus and played two matches before returning to his parent club, citing "the standard of football was not high enough". At the end of the 2002–03 season, he was released by the club, without making a first-team appearance.

Swindon Town

Howard trained with Chelsea, who offered him a contract, but while he was away with the England under-20 team, the club was taken over by Roman Abramovich and several top players were signed. Howard chose to turn down Chelsea's offer, preferring the prospect of playing regularly in a lower division, and signed a one-year deal with Division Two (third-tier) club Swindon Town. He made his debut for the club, as well as the Football League, in a 3–2 home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday on 9 August 2003. However, Howard initially found his playing time, coming from the substitute bench. He scored his first Swindon Town goal on 1 October 2003, an 89th-minute equaliser against Luton Town, resulting in a 2–2 draw. Two months later on 20 December 2003,…

Howard played for England from under-16 to under-20 level. While playing for the England U16 side, he "scored direct from a corner" against Argentina U16. In November 2003, Howard chose to not represent the England U20 for the FIFA World Youth Championship in United Arab Emirates in favour of focus on Swindon Town. Howard, whose father is from Glasgow, was called up by Scotland manager George Burley for their friendly match against Croatia on 26 March 2008; however he was deemed ineligible by FIFA as he had not registered his availability at a young enough age. Attempts to have the decision overturned proved fruitless.

As of match played 4 February 2017

Barnsley

Football League One play-offs: 2006 Individual

Barnsley Player of the Year: 2006–07 PFA Team of the Year: 2007–08 Championship